Homecoming/Akatasuki Makes a Move

Before the sword enters Naruto, he finds himself inside himself facing the sealed Kyuubi. The demon then rises from bubbles formed by the water on the floor. Kyuubi tries to lure Naruto into letting him be taken over. However, the plan fails as Sasuke appears before the Kyuubi, stopping him with his hand and sharigan eyes. The Kyuubi recognizes Sasuke's cursed eyes and compares them to another Uchiha named Madara. With sudden annoyance, Sasuke expels the Kyuubi's form, thus ending the preview.

In the present time, a young boy is running around town chasing something. As the passes by the Ichiraku Ramen stand, he accidentally knocks over the old man who mistakes him to be Naruto. Of course, the old man knew better and realizes that it's actually Konohamaru. After successfully capturing a poor cat, they return to the Hokage's tower, where the cat's owner was waiting for them. After the lady and her cat leaves, Konohamaru's instructor, Ebisu, starts to scold his team of Genins. He believed that that mission could have been completed faster, especially for Genins at their rate. However, Konohamaru complains, asking for higher ranked missions; he wants to become strong, strong enough to be the seventh Hokage. At this, Tsunade (who was sitting at the table in front of them with Iruka and Shizune) raises her eyebrows in amusement, and asks why he would not try for the sixth. With confidence evident in his voice, Konohamaru tells them that Naruto would surely be the sixth Hokage.

After leaving the Hokage Tower, Kohonamaru and his childhood friends find Sakura Haruno. She was going to pick up the traffic report by the front gate, and they decided to go with her. At the front gate, Naruto and Jiraiya had just passed through, leaving Kotetsu and Izumo a bit surprised. When Sakura picks up the report from them, they let her know (without giving their names) that 'they' were back. Meanwhile, Jiraiya stared up a pole as Naruto climbed it and stood at the top. He was taking in all of Konoha's changes; he noticed that Tsunade's face was now on the wall with the other past Hokages. Then he proudly proclaims to Konoha that he has returned.

Another short intermission occurs, showing the difference between the old Naruto and the current one. Unlike the one before the time skip, he as gained more height, and he's matured more. They then both perform Rasengan and blow up the wall behind them, revealing the Japanese character: Shi.

Naruto is suddenly brought back from his reminiscing by Sakura's voice from down below. She believes that he has changed, and become more mature. When she asks him if she's matured, he says that she's still the same. This made Sakura a bit annoyed with him. However, after Konohamaru performed Orioke no Jutsu, and Naruto first claimed to be more mature but then wanted to show Kohonamaru the new and improved Orioke no Jutsu, Sakura became irritated and angered. With a punch to his face, Naruto wash sent flying a few meters off. His body created a trail in the ground, and his nose bleeding heavily. Sakura angrily walks up to him and shakes him for his immaturity, just when she thought he had changed. Back where Jiraiya was standing, he watched Sakura beating Naruto. Jiraiya thought that Sakura's strength and temper had made her into a second Tsunade. To prove her temper, Konohamaru and his friends were holding on to Jiraiya for dear life with shocked faces at Sakura's sudden switch in temper.

Later at the Hokage's office, Tsunade welcomes Naruto back, but she also tells them that it's time to test out the results of their training. She has set up for a sparring match between Sakura and Naruto with someone else. Of course, the door is suddenly knocked on, causing the two to believe whoever's on the other side of the door is their opponent.

Another intermission occurs, this time showing the difference between the past Sakura and the current one. Aside from just the outfit change, she's also grown a couple of inches. She's also been trained daily by the Hokage, to the point where she could have died any moment. But because of the Hokage's daily brutal training, Sakura has become much stronger. Then, Sakura (who is now wearing a priestess outfit) writes another Japanese character on a big sheet of paper, the character is a small Tsu.

After the door knocked, Shikamaru and Temari enter the office. At first, Shikamaru as really happy to see Naruto for the first time in years. Temari was a bit surprised because Naruto had changed since the last time she saw him. When Shikamaru asked if Naruto's changed, Sakura butts in and claims that he hasn't at all; Shikamaru expected that was so. Then, Naruto walks over to the window and looks outside to find Kakashi. He hops out of the window then and walks over to his teacher. After initial greetings, Naruto decides to give Kakashi a present. Naruto reaches into his pouch and pulls out the latest addition to the Icha Icha Paradise. Of course, Sakura and Tsunade was watching this from the open window, a soft smile gracing their faces. Jiraiya on the other hand was poutting, dissatisfied that Naruto couldn't understand such a book. Naruto had given it to Kakashi, since he finished it but found it boring, so Naruto believed that it would be of better use to Kakashi.

once they return inside the room, Kakashi tells Sakura and Naruto that he is their opponent. He decides to give them time to rest up, and that they would meet up some time later in their old training ground for the match. The teenagers then leave the office and start walking down the streets of Konoha. Naruto then starts to ask questions to Shikamaru, asking if he and Temari were together. Of course, Shikamaru instantly replied no. He was merely a guide to the Sand Ambassador, being Temari. This was necessary, because they were discussing plans for the upcoming Chuunin Exams. He then continues on to tell Naruto that he's the only one in their group that hasn't advanced past Chuunin yet. Naruto turns his horror-striken face to Sakura, and she merely gave him a peace sign. She, too, had become a Chuunin like everyone else. Giving Naruto even more information, Shikamaru tells him that Kankurou, Temari and Neji were all Jounin now. Naruto turns his attention to Shikamaru and asks about Gaara.

Over at Suna, Gaara was looking at the village dressed in white and blue robes; Gaara had become the Kazekage of Suna. After finding out that Gaara had become Kazekage, Naruto looks at the sky, deciding that he wasn't going to lose to him. Sakura couldn't help but smile at his determination. Back in Suna, a council meeting had been called.

A third intermission occurs, this time Jiraiya and Kakashi are introducing the new Icha Icha Paradise novel. After introducing the latest installment to the series, they use their special summon jutsu. With two of Kakashi's dogs and one of Jiraiya's toads, they announce the third Japanese character: Puu.

In the council meeting, one of the members began warning the rest of the council about the secret organization known as Akatsuki. He had received this information from one of the Legendary Sannin, Jiraiya. Meanwhile, said Sannin and Kakashi were instead small restaurant discussing about the same organization, and what they wanted out of Naruto. Back in Suna, the meeting had ended and they were all leaving the room. The same council member who had given the information about Akatsuki at the meeting, suddenly stopped in his tracks and expierenced a jolt of shock as a seal inside of him broke. Meanwhile, two Akatsuki members were in the desert nearing Suna.

In Konoha, Naruto and Sakura were waiting by their old training ground for Kakashi to arrive. After a couple of minutes, Kakashi popped and decided that he would be giving them the same test he had when they were Genin. Unfortunately, he had mentioned Sasuke's name in the process. After realizing what he had done to them both, he reminded himself that speaking Sasuke's name was like a taboo to them. Suddenly, Kakashi put away his book. It was time to start, and his former students both knew it. Naruto tightened his headband, and Sakura pulled on her gloves. Knowing that this could be dangerous, Kakashi decided to take this seriously, thus revealing his sharigan eye.

Outside of Suna, the Akatsuki pair had made it to gates of Suna, but were spotted by a Jounin at the gates. He warned the council member, and they made a move. However, when the pair made it to the entrance of Suna, everyone was dead except for the council member. He bowed, recognizing one Akatsuki member, Sasori, as his master. In Konoha, Jiraiya settled himself up in a tree, while Tsunade and Shizune leaned against anothe tree. With fierce determination, Naruto charged with the intent to kill.

As a final intermission to end the episode, Tsunade and Shizune were seated a table. As usual, Tsunade was betting that Sakura would win. In the process, she had managed to trick Shizune into betting on Sakura's win while she, Tsunade, bet on Kakashi's win. Before Shizune could take back her words, Tsunade had left the stage to present the next and final character. She pressed the lever and let the big screen beside her spin. It eventually stopped, but at Orochimaru's face. Tsunade jumped up and kicked the screen, and it slowly moved to the final character: Den.

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